Tajik Border With Afghan Province Closed After Cholera Report

Tajikistan has temporarily closed the border it shares with Afghanistan's province of Badakhshan amid reports of a cholera outbreak there.

A spokesman for the Tajik border guard service, Khushnud Rakhmatullaev, told journalists on August 20 that the border has been closed since August 19.

Rakhmatullaev said the decision was made at the request of the health minister.

Tajikistan's Deputy Health Minister Azam Mirzoev said that special preventative measures were undertaken in the regions close to the Afghan border.

Tajik and Russian media reports said last week that some 1,500 residents in Afghanistan's Badakhshan had been diagnosed with cholera.

The reports said one patient has died and almost 40 are in serious condition.


Based on reporting by Asia-Plus and ITAR-TASS